Money transfer transactions performed with a financial services institution include send transactions and receive transactions. Under a send transaction, a sender sends or “wires” money to a recipient through the financial services institution. Under a receive transaction, the recipient receives money through the financial services institution. Many such transactions are also facilitated by other businesses, companies or organizations that act as agents of the financial services institution. Furthermore, both the sender and the recipient may be referred to as customers of the financial services institution and/or the agent.
A prior method of performing a send transaction involves a sender completing a transaction form and providing the form to an agent. The transaction form includes such information as the desired amount of money to be sent, sender information, and recipient information. The agent then enters the information from the transaction form into a computer that is in communication with a central data base of the financial services institution. Alternatively, the agent may read the information to a representative of the financial services institution, and the representative may provide additional information to the agent that is added to the transaction form. Next, the agent collects from the sender the desired amount of money to be sent plus any applicable fees and/or taxes.
Because this method requires the sender to complete the transaction form, and further requires the agent to either input all information included on the transaction form into the computer, or convey the information to a representative of the financial services institution, the method is time-consuming and error prone. Furthermore, the method does not account for language barriers that may arise should the sender speak a different language than the agent.
Another method of performing a send transaction involves providing a telephone at an agent location with which a sender can access an operator of a financial services institution. The sender then provides information to the operator, such as recipient name, desired amount of money to be sent, and agent location. Next, the operator transmits a transaction form, which includes the information provided by the sender, to an agent at the agent location via a facsimile transmittal machine. The sender then signs the transaction form. Next, the agent collects from the sender the desired amount of money to be sent plus any applicable fees and/or taxes. The agent then signs the transaction form and transmits the form back to the operator. Next, the operator enters the information from the transaction form into a central data base of the financial services institution.
Still another method of performing a send transaction includes providing a sender an access card that is used to access a central data base of a financial services institution. The sender provides the access card to an agent, and the agent retrieves from the central data base a list of potential recipient names previously identified by the sender. After the list has been retrieved, the sender selects a desired recipient from the list, and provides a desired amount of money to be sent to the selected recipient. Next, the agent collects from the sender the desired amount of money to be sent plus any applicable fees and/or taxes.
A prior method of performing a receive transaction involves a sender providing a recipient a money transfer control number (MTCN), which represents a unique key to the transaction information stored in the data base. The MTCN is then provided to an agent by the recipient. Next, the agent accesses the data base and obtains a receive amount that corresponds to the MTCN. The agent then issues a check, money order, or cash to the recipient for the receive amount.